STREET SEATS
A collaboration between the NYC DOT and Parsons School of Constructed Environments, Street Seats utilized a seasonally opened space and transformed it into a public gathering area. Located on the corner of 13th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan, the design build project was brought to life through the efforts of a few students with a vision to produce a proposal for public seating and bring it forward at a community board meeting. The importance of this experience was not jut the opportunity to engage the public in tangible way but the fact that the entire process was being carried out with merely the help of one professor and without any direction from the school. Not until after approval by the DOT and community did we in fact present this to the university. All permits and materials were obtained and the public seating area was built on site in the matter of days; with all fabrication taking place within Parsons shop facilities. With sustainable practices in mind and causing the least invasive construction methods possible, this project invigorated the life and vitality of the intersection.
In addition to it's success for the three month period it was up, Parsons School of Constructed Environments decided to keep the site allocated by the DOT and base an elective course on designing and building new public seating yearly.
